More than 200 attendees packed Costa Mesa's third annual Mayor's Celebration dinner at the Samueli Theater on Thursday that included song, art and accolades.
Receiving the Mayor's Award was Wilbur H. Smith III, founder of Greenlaw Partners. The Irvine-...

One of the real estate developers behind the revitalization of 17th Street in Costa Mesa is looking to redefine a somewhat nondescript office building in Newport Beach to bring it in line with its trendy surroundings.
Burnham-Ward Properties, a...

Find Your Zen Yoga & Nutrition Studio will open Saturday in Corona del Mar, offering a new style of interval yoga created by the studio's founder, Christina Ratusznik, as well as power, vinyasa flow and yin yoga styles. The studio also will offer...

One owner of an Irvine-based real estate investment company pleaded guilty Thursday to allegations that his firm essentially turned into a Ponzi scheme after the housing market crashed, according to authorities.
John Packard, 64, of Long Beach was...

Vivante on the Coast, a luxury retirement community in Costa Mesa's Westside, recently celebrated its first anniversary.
The award-winning 185-unit complex at 1640 Monrovia Ave. opened in October 2013 and is now home to more than 160 residents, according to a news release. The 7-acre campus houses people ages 62 and older and includes a "memory care" wing for people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.
"When we imagined the type of community we wanted to create, it included a lively...

The GMC Yukon trundled past a barbed-wire fence and up a dry grassy hillside — the brush scratching loudly against its underside — toward a peak with sweeping views.
Below, the blue and glassy Irvine Lake stretched toward the 241 Toll Road. In the other direction, parched hills rolled out in rust- and khaki-colored swatches.
"It's funny to think that just over the hill is civilization," Irvine Co. spokesman Mike Lyster said, stepping out of the SUV.
This land in East Orange is part of...

Three office buildings in Mission Viejo and Irvine have sold in two transactions that, combined, industry observers valued at more than $90 million as investor demand for Orange County commercial properties heats up.
The sales to large national investors are a sign that the county’s office market is recovering from the drubbing it took after the mortgage industry began to contract in 2007, said real estate broker Ryan Gallagher of HFF.
Before that, lenders such as New Century Financial Corp....

It would be more dramatic to think of a tennis racquet gathering dust in Natalie Raney's home. But in reality there are no tennis racquets. There isn't even tennis apparel or tennis merchandise there.
To put it simply, when it comes to tennis for Raney: love really does mean nothing.
Raney, formerly Natalie Braverman, has a much different life now. For 17 years, basically all of her youth, tennis consumed her life. But now she's all about real estate and her marriage.
The former Newport Harbor...

I am happy to say that the "functional libertarian" approach is beginning to attract more people here and around the world. But what does that mean? What would a functional libertarian world really look like?
Generally speaking, functional libertarians strive for a government under which people would happily pay their taxes because they see that the money is being responsibly and effectively spent for their general safety, welfare and quality of life. Obviously, we will never attain that result, but...

A real estate brokerage with the name of billionaire investor Warren Buffett's investment firm tied to it unveiled its first property in Orange County on Wednesday — a nearly $20 million home in Newport Coast.
Prudential California Realty will become Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties in October.
"It's quite a dramatic event that we have going on today," said David Cabot, chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties. He spoke at a gathering of...

When a 90-foot Christmas tree at Fashion Island lights up for the first time Friday night, it will mark just one mega-tree in a series sparkling to life for the holidays in shopping centers throughout Southern California.
Fashion Island's white fir, which soars above many of the surrounding stores, cost roughly $1,000 per foot of height, a price that covered transportation, set-up and decoration. But even with such a hefty price tag, the tree still falls 25 feet short of being the tallest in the area,...